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9. Explíquenos, por favor, en detalle todo lo que pasó y cómo fue la intervención de la policía. |
This happened on the morning of March 12, 2025. This took place near María’s Beach in Rincón, on the road right in front of it. That day, I was participating in a protest against the construction of the famous bike path. I was sitting in the middle of the street, blocking a bulldozer. There were hundreds of police officers there, mostly from the Puerto Rico State Police. They were pushing people off the side of the road. The Special Operations Unit [Unidad de Arrestos Especial] was also present; they were the ones directly involved in the intervention.
The police intervened and used excessive force. Before that, when I was still sitting down, they were kicking me and stepping over me. I was being trampled. There was a sergeant among them, the same group that physically attacked us. They didn’t threaten me verbally, but the force they used spoke for itself. I was hurt badly, and they never said a word.
I was attacked by two officers while they arrested me. They didn’t give me any warning or say a word before grabbing me. I wasn’t armed, I wasn’t threatening anyone. I was just sitting in protest. As they pulled me up from the ground, the officer on my left side lifted my arms so high that it tore my tendons, while the officer on my right pulled down so hard that he tore the skin from my arm. They cuffed me while I was on my back, and I was in intense pain the entire time. I have X-rays showing the shoulder injury. By around 8:30 a.m., I was already under arrest.
After the arrest, they took me to the station in Aguadilla. There, they photographed my injuries and wrapped my arm in gauze. At the protest site, before being taken away, a paramedic had also put a bandage on my arm. Later in jail, they wrapped it again, but that was the only medical attention I received. The police didn’t take me to a hospital. All they did was use a first-aid kit in the cell. I had to deal with the injuries through my own insurance afterward. We were bailed out around 9:00 p.m. that same day of the protest.
By June 2nd, my condition still hadn’t improved. The incident had happened in the middle of March, and when I finally saw a doctor in June, they confirmed I had decreased mobility in my shoulder. It’s been seven months now, and I still feel pain from what they did.
The police never explained why they were arresting me. Later, they charged me with interfering with a construction site, a misdemeanor. I was convicted in August. The officers didn’t have their names or badges visible, and I don’t know any of their names or numbers. The only charge was the misdemeanor related to the protest.
What happened that day was wrong. I was exercising my right to protest, and instead, I was injured and humiliated by people who are supposed to protect the public. The video of the incident shows some of what happened. You can see them kicking and pulling. The kicking wasn’t even the worst part; it was the way they arrested me that caused the real damage.
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